Generally, a fuel injector includes a body and a case joined together to accommodate multiple moving parts, such as a plunger and valve elements, to inject fuel into a cylinder of an internal combustion engine. A fluid may be circulated inside the fuel injector for operational, cooling and/or lubricating purpose. In many situations, the fluid flowing into the fuel injector may conduct debris into the fuel injector. This may result in a seizure of the fuel injector and premature failure of the moving parts of the fuel injector, thereby reducing operating performance of the internal combustion engine.
Hence, a filter may be employed at a fluid inlet of the fuel injector in order to limit entry of the debris into the fuel injector. However, at a low temperature of the fluid, a viscosity of the fluid may be relatively high such that the filter may limit the flow of the fluid into the fuel injector. As a result, the high viscosity of the fluid and resulting restrictive nature of the filter may affect a cold start of the internal combustion engine which may not be desirable. Hence, there is a need for an improved filter assembly for the fuel injector.
German Patent Application Number 102009029667 describes a filter including a front closure section and a bar-shaped filter section formed subsequent to a flow direction of a cleaning liquid. A rearward closure section is formed subsequent to the filter section. The filter section is arranged with a filter plate stretching in a longitudinal direction of the bar-shaped filter section through which the cleaning liquid is passed.